SKYLINE

SKYLINE Malevolent intergalactic critters swoop down to harvest our citizens and ravage yet another postcard-perfect horizon in Skyline, a generic war-of-the-worlds imitation featuring noisy H.R. Giger–ish battleships, squid-gorillas with brain-sucking tentacles and other mismatched monsters who all hypnotize and infect people with blue LEDs. "Once you look at the light, it grabs hold," discovers a cast of Cloverfield understudies (led by limber lunkhead Eric Balfour and Scottie Thompson, who plays his exasperated girlfriend), a no-duh explanation that could've underplayed as media satire in the hands of Romero, Cronenberg or even far lesser genre auteurs. But in F/X-pros-turned-filmmakers the Brothers Strause's technically spectacular, otherwise unremarkable B-movie, the most profound ideas are the stoopid action-sequence setups, during which everyone barks at one another inside their penthouse home base (which conveniently has a telescope synched up to a plasma screen, perfect for watching the big show outside): Let's run to the roof! Let's run to the parking garage! Let's stay in the party pad! Let's try the roof again! The military eventually shows up to nuke the joint (L.A., incidentally), but there's no urgency, suspense or charm with all that back-row rattle. (Aaron Hillis) (Citywide)